Ram Charan Teja is a self made actor, says father Chiranjeevi

Macau: Chiranjeevi is looking forward to the release of Ram Charan Teja`s Bollywood debut ‘Zanjeer’ and the actor-politician believes that the remake will help his son cement his position as an actor.

Teja, 28, is stepping into the shoes of Amitabh Bachchan with the remake of 1973 film which gave the megastar an image of `Angry Young Man`.

The Telugu superstar, who is also the Union Minster of Tourism, is attending IIFA awards to promote the incredible India campaign in Macau.

"I am happy that Ram has taken my place in the Telugu Film Industry. He is doing good work there. He is confident that his debut Hindi film will be a superhit despite the delay in its release. As a father, I am hopeful about my son`s film because it was a hit of that time and gave Amitabh Bachchan the tag of `angry young man`," Chiranjeevi said.

The remake, also starring Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt, has been in news due to copyright and royalty issues with writers -- Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar.

Chiranjeevi said he does not believe in advising his son on his career.

"I never knew that he was a good actor until I saw him dancing in my daughter`s wedding. My wife told me that my son watches all my films and learnt acting and dance by watching my films. We never imposed our dreams on our children. Ram is a self made actor and I was surprised to see his first Tamil film."

Tamil superstar Dhanush has already made a successful foray in Bollywood with ‘Raanjhanaa’ and now Teja`s first Hindi film is ready to release. Chiranjeevi believes the exchange of actors between both the industries is a good change.

"It`s a good change. Our budget is going up. To earn money and meet the expectation of people across India it is necessary that the films should reach to every audience," he said.

Chiranjeevi, who has been behind hits like ‘Gharana Mogudu’, ‘Mondi Ghatam’, ‘Intlo Ramayya Veedilo Krishnayya’ and ‘Khaidi’, misses his stint as an actor sometimes but has no plans to return to films.

"I will not work on films as I am a full-fledged minister now. I completed 139 films in my three-decade-old career. I have no regrets about my career now. I am happy to serve my nation now."

As the tourism minister, Chiranjeevi promises to encourage foreign films shooting in India by developing a single window clearance programme.

"Being an actor myself, I think I understand the problems better. Whenever, I as an actor visited foreign land we did not face any problem but when they come they face loads of difficulties. As a minister, I could manage to get single window clearance.

"Under this a group of people – constituting different ministries will come together and help the people to manage things and will help foreign producers to get all the clearance certificates when they come to India," he said.